There has been significant interest in developing laser systems which can be used to treat various forms of vascular lesions. The type of vascular disorders that have been investigated include port wine stains, face veins, telangiectasis, and birth marks. A wide variety of medical laser systems have been proposed and introduced to treat these various disorders.
In most prior systems, the laser light is used to irradiate the surface of the skin. The laser energy passes through the tissue and is preferentially absorbed in the blood in the vessel. The energy which is absorbed in the blood, causes the vessel to coagulate and collapse.
Unfortunately, there are problems associated with these systems. More specifically, although most of the energy of the laser beam passes through the tissue to the vessel, scattering and absorption of the light take place in the tissue. This absorption can cause significant changes in skin coloration and even scarring. This problem is even more acute when attempts are made to treat large veins where much higher laser powers are necessary.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop an alternative laser treatment method for treating veins which does not have the drawbacks associated with the prior art approaches.